Citizens of Egypt consider Turkey a leading country in the Muslim world, and a significant number of Egyptians have said they would fight for Turkey, despite President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi regime's ongoing propaganda campaign, recent research shows.
According to a survey by the research firm Areda, carried out with the participation of 1,047 people in Egypt from Aug. 20-27, 31.4% of Egyptians said they consider Turkey a leading country in the Muslim world alongside Egypt, while 10.4% said Saudi Arabia, 6.2% chose the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 1.6% said Qatar, 1% said Pakistan and 0.5% said Iran. Another 9.7% said "other" and 39.2% said "none."
In response to a question about if they would fight for Turkey in times of war, 15.3% of the participants said "yes."
The respondents also expressed dissatisfaction about the administration of the country, as 41.6% said they are not pleased with it and 18.4% said they were undecided.
A whopping 48.5% said they would not vote for el-Sissi if elections were held in the country, while 35% said they would vote for him and 16.5% said they were undecided.
Meanwhile, in response to a question about whether Egyptian authorities were making independent decisions without being affected by other countries, 48.6% said "no," 41.4% said "yes" and 10% said they had no idea.
The relations between Turkey and Egypt deteriorated after el-Sissi toppled the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in a coup after only a year in office.
The military then crushed the Muslim Brotherhood movement in a major crackdown, arresting Morsi and many of the group's leaders, who have been in prison undergoing multiple trials ever since the coup.
Morsi, who had diabetes and kidney disease, collapsed and died during a trial in June 2019. Morsi's family said he died because he had not been provided with proper medical treatment.
Egypt under el-Sissi has been carrying out an anti-Turkey campaign and has arrested Turkish tourists visiting the country.
Egypt has also sided with the UAE in Libya and with Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean crisis against Turkey.